What am I doing?

My blog is called 'What Craig Did', and yet I rarely mention what I am doing right now. Probably because I don't have a whole lot going on. Sadly I don't do much at all. I have become that person I never wanted to be - I have a full time job! And even worse I have become one of those people that automatically wakes up at 6am on the weekend because I am used to it in the week (don't get me wrong - I quickly roll over and go back to sleep when I realise). This blog post is going to be all about me - my favourite subject. As always I have made a list of things so lets get underway.

Job

I am currently working as a Visual Merchandiser for a major British department store chain. Basically the job requires me to make the store look pretty. I dress the mannequins, create the displays, hang the wall posters, set up all advertising and all general upkeep. I am liking the job, it is definitely a lot more physical than I am used to, fingers crossed for some upper arm muscles out of this. Having religiously never lifted anything heavier than 5lbs in my entire life it has been a struggle. 

Home Life

Home life is good. I may be a bit behind my peers. I moved back home a couple of years ago now, it just made sense. Whilst I get on my feet and find my path I don't want to have to worry about bills and been alone all the time. My parents and sister are amazing, it feels like more like roommates than the house having any type of hierarchy. It works for us as we are four very individual, opinionated people. I will be looking to move on within the next year or so but I am happy where I am right now.

Friends

I have an amazing group of friends. As time goes by some friendships diminish and some grow. I am lucky as I always have someone I can go to. I do wish I could hang out with some of them more than what I do, but I understand that sometimes life doesn't allow for that. I won't name a certain friend but I want to thank them individually - they allow me to say whatever drivel pops in to my head, they talk to me all the time, I feel like they get me on a bigger level than most and I never feel judgement from them - so thank you.

Love Life

Not applicable. Nothing new to write. Seems singledom is a way of life for me. 

Plans

I don't have a lot of plans as of now, I just got my first full time job so that is taking a lot of time up in my life. However I am going to do something soon, quite scary for someone like me - I am going to go to another country alone. I haven't decided which one yet, I have limited it down to Europe. France seems to be the front runner right now. It won't be for long, maybe even just for a week, but it has been something I have been thinking about for a while now and I am in a good enough place where I can do it, Mainly I want to see how I cope, I am very used to my own company so that won't be an issue and another major reason is that I don't know if anybody will be free or willing to go with me.

Emotions

I have been a mix of emotions lately. My life has completely changed in the last few months. I have always been in education and now it suddenly stopped. I feel more responsible for my life than I have ever before. Every choice from here on out means something. I have my down times sometimes, frustration with myself, disappointment with myself - always feel like I should be doing more than what I am doing. However, with the down times I do get happy times aswell, I am forever grateful for what I do have. Mostly I am scared if I am completely honest, I don't know whats happening a lot of the time.

Interests

Nothing really new to report here, if there is one thing I do talk about a lot on here it is my interests. TV shows I am currently watching are The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation, Inkmaster, Scandal, Veep and I have become obsessed with Big Brother Canada. My days Big Brother Canada and US have a completely different set up than we do over in Blighty - and it is insanely better, research it and you will see what I mean.

Music I am currently listening to a lot is a mix as always. I am re-listening to Miranda Lambert's 'Four The Record' a lot and starting to love the songs I never gave a chance to before. Favourite song right now is probably 'Look at Miss Ohio'. Also really liking Iggy Azalea's new album, Christina Perri's new album and American Author's new album. I try to listen to a lot of new music, mainly recommended to me by my friend who always has a list of new stuff I might like.

When it comes to movies I keep finding myself trying to seek out slasher horror's I haven't seen yet. Watching a lot of badly made sequels, and some good ones sometimes. Really want to dedicate more time and money to my DVD collection.

So I think that is us all caught up now. I will be honest I am struggling to come up with ideas for this blog. I have posted 118 times and it is hard to keep my ideas fresh, so any thoughts or links would be amazing. Peace.

Shhhhh! It's taboo!

I have never been fully able to comprehend the point of a taboo. Why can't we talk about certain things? Speech and language is one of the things that human beings have mastered, our ability to communicate with each other is an amazing and beautiful thing - yet we censor ourselves for risk of offending. I understand certain things shouldn't be said - Momma always taught me that if I have nothing nice to say then shut the hell up. Insulting things aren't taboo, they shouldn't be said for the pure fact its not nice to hurt someone. Words cause scars that can't be seen. Anyway, getting away from the point. I have of course wrote a shortish list about certain taboos that I just don't understand.

Swearing
Personally I swear like a fucking sailor (I don't have proof they swear anymore than the average man though). I like swearing. They are words that just roll off the tongue with such a punch. My favourite swearword is probably 'fuck'. Just the action you create with your mouth releases such a pop, the word has power. Also I think it is the only word in the english dictionary that you can put anywhere in a sentence and it makes sense. What I don't understand is that we have literally created words that we can't say. Who decided certain words were swear/curse words? I honestly think that if these words became normal in conversation that they would lose all their power, and they wouldn't become a big deal. Although hearing a child swear will always be funny.

Pooping
We all do it, literally every living thing on this planet has to expel waste at some point. Yet, we can't talk about it. Its apparently disgusting. If anyone has an issue with any other bodily function you can talk about it with someone, tell someone you have had a particular difficult shit and suddenly alarm bells ring and you're been inappropriate. I am been slightly hypocritical, I never talk about my toilet habits. Its a shame, I think I have been conditioned by society not to acknowledge it. Another damn shame is when you walk into a public bathroom, the cubicles are locked and there is dead silence. There is a man waiting for you to leave or turn on the hand-dryer so he can drop his load. Personally I don't mind if someone wants to fart, especially in a toilet - they are funny! We need to get over this. Having to drop the kids off at the pool is as normal as breathing.

Sex
Conversations regarding sex are kept mainly amongst close friends. We all share secrets and tales to only the people that we can trust. Like its a shameful thing. I'm sorry but how do you think you got here? Sex is the most primal normal thing we do. It is a shame that in 2014 we still have to talk about sex in hushed tones. What is even more shameful is that the legal age for sex on the UK is 16, but hold your horses Mary - you can't watch someone have sex until you are 18. Everyone has seen porn, yet we all pretend we haven't. It is really not a big deal - at all! Aslong as all contributors are doing it at free will, then why not watch it. If you enjoy it don't be ashamed - even call it art if it makes it more comfortable for you.

Love
This may confuse you but stay with me. Yes we all express love in many different ways. 'I love cheese', 'I loved that film' and 'I love my mum' are things that slip off the tongue with ease. Love is accepted in the majority. Unfortunately not in all cases. As a male trying to become a man I have noticed the word 'love' isn't used as often as it should be. To say you love your best male friend is considered gay. It really doesn't mean that. You can have love for someone without wanting to marry them and share a life together. Love is an emotion and emotions are often uncontrollable, this does not mean you have to keep them to yourselves. I love all my friends I really do, they are an extension of my family. Its a shame that manly men can't feel the freedom to express their love for their amigos.

I am not saying that we should just start blurting out whatever we want now and try and diminish taboos. I just think that if more people feel more freedom to talk about whatever they want then the power will be taken away from the taboo. It won't be too shocking.

This post kind of reminds me of a post I previously did about mental illness, depression in particular. Mental illness is a huge taboo subject. This lies in the fact that people don't understand, because no one is talking about it. We could help so many people if we just talk. If anyone ever wants to share anything with me than I have 2 ears to listen with and 2 shoulders to cry on. Nothing is taboo with me (except maybe pooping, but I will get their one day).

Craig 'The Green Eyed Monster' Chambers

It's not the most attractive trait for a human to have, but I have it. I believe that 100% of the human race suffers from it. No one can be that secure that they don't suffer from it. I am of course talking about jealousy. We all want what someone else has for the pure reason that we don't have it. There are many different types of jealousy; and I feel like I suffer from them all.

It can be small things that I get jealous of, for instance if I am in a restaurant and I see someone chose a better meal than me and I am left stuck with the same meal I have every time. These are little annoyances that I face everyday of my life. I always seem to make the wrong choice. For example if there are two buses going to the same place, I always and I mean always pick the one that leaves the station second - not because I knew the times, but because fate seems to love to hate me.

I also suffer from major life jealousies. I get 'friend envy' a hell of a lot. This can raise its ugly head in different ways. I get jealous when a friend makes a new friend that I don't know, I get jealous when I see my friends make plans for them (the worst is when you are standing right there and they make plans that don't include you). I think this comes from never been anyone's first choice. Everyone has that one friend that is a bit closer than other friends or they have a boyfriend/girlfriend. I always seem to take a back seat when it comes to that. I am the friend you call when others have cancelled. 

Another jealousy I suffer from (hold on readers, there are a few) is when your crush starts dating someone or gets in a relationship. I have talked about crushes before (link) and it can be any of those. Any crush you have, when they suddenly become happy with someone else it can be soul destroying. This can make you hideously insecure and very unhappy. This is one of those jealousies you can't even do anything about, except just be happy for them. They should be happy. I haven't quite been able to achieve happiness for a crush but I am sure one day I will. Fingers crossed for me.

One major jealousy I have is of rich people. They can buy anything and everything I want. I buy a meal deal from Boots for my lunch, they go to a restaurant. I get the bus, they get their driver to take them places. I sleep in a room the size of a shoebox, their closets are bigger than my house. I always want more than what I have and it sucks, I don't know how to achieve these things, or I just don't want to do the things it takes to get them. 

The moral of the story is that we all get jealous. Its a sucky human attribute. It can be an all consuming and there isn't anything you can do about it. You have to be happy with what you have, but whats wrong with wanting what someone else has? 

'And I know that I'm being hateful but that ain't nothing. That ain't nothing. I'm just jealous. I'm just human. Don't judge me.' Beyonce - Jealous (even Queen Bey gets jealous).

I should probably go outside ...

The other day my very good friend sent me a link to find out how much of my life I had spent watching TV. I already kind of knew I would be above average (I love television). The basic premise is that you put in the shows you have seen every episode of and it calculates how much time it was. For example 'Friends' had 236 episodes, each at approx 22 minutes long, so that would be 5,129 minutes, and that works out to 3.6 days. I knew I was in trouble (especially as I have easily seen each episode 10 times).

So I made my list and was getting some big results. I had to stop.  I got to 34 days and I was nowhere near finished. It was saddening to say the least, so much time spent on my arse in front a bunch of pixels. I always have the feeling of 'where did time go', like it felt 1997 was a few years ago - I cried when I realised it was 17 years ago. Now I know where my time went!

Don't get me wrong, I am not about to turn away from the box. I have evidently invested too much time to back away now. I have been sucked in to the magic that is television. And lets face facts; we are truly in a golden age of television right now - we have never had it so good. A big chunk of our pop culture comes from television as much as we don't want to admit it. It is the greatest form of entertainment.

However, I need to step outside. My pasty white skin needs to feel the sun beat down on it. I need some colour in my cheeks other than the patchy red that seems to radiate at any given social moment of my existence. I need to see nature, everyday I see the same beige walls and the same concrete buildings. I want to feel sand, grass, pebbles and dirt under my feet. I want to feel the sea breeze blow through my hair and to smell that very distinct smell of an uninhabited place. So this summer I am making a vow to myself, I will go outside. I will see something that isn't man made. As weird as it sounds - I don't need mod-cons to get me through the day. We always hear our parents boast about the days where they would leave the house at sunrise and go back at twilight, having spent all day running free, no computers or phones were needed - they had friends and Mother Earth. Lets recreate that magic so we can rub it in the next generation's faces.

Whoever wants to go on a roadtrip, whoever wants to go the beach - let me know. I'll bring the food. Just to sweeten the deal I may even wear shorts, my knees have never seen the sun - who doesn't want to experience that with me?

Everything I need to know I can learn from Linda La Hughes

Kathy Burke amazingly plays Linda La Hughes in the hugely popular British comedy 'Gimme Gimme Gimme'. She also wrote the damn show. Aswell as a great insight to a straight/gay relationship, she wrote a character I have found quite inspirational. I wasn't looking for life lessons when watching the show, but alas I did. So, as a lover of lists I thought I would write one about how Linda has become my own personal Jesus.

Always be confident

She is forever confident in a world where she is constantly put down and shamed for just been her. Receiving pet names such as 'Fat Tart' and 'Dog', she doesn't let it phase her. She lives for herself and no one else. Her fashion taste can both be questionable and inspired. She wears what she wants regardless of fit, colour or fabric.

Have high expectations

Linda doesn't allow her circumstances stop her from dreaming. She dreams of a lavish life with a guy to match. She doesn't have it, maybe she never will but it doesn't stop the thirst for it. In this world sometimes all we have is dreams, and Linda happily lives with them.

Live in delusion

The world can be a cruel place and the only person you can truly rely on to pick yourself up is yourself. People can control what you see but no one can control what you imagine. Linda often mistakes pictures of Catherine Zeta Jones and Uma Thurman for pictures of herself; and why the hell shouldn't she. If you can see yourself in the some of the prettiest women in the world, then be happy and do you.

Value your friends

We often hear of Linda's tough upbringing. Her mother died, her father is in prison and her famous sister denies her existence. So she found family in her best friend and roommate Tom. Their relationship is touching. Often mistaken for a sibling relationship because as hard as they can love, they can tear strips off each other and rip each other apart. Linda truly loves Tom and would do anything for him.

Always be honest

Linda doesn't mince her words. If she doesn't like or agree with something she will say, if she loves something she will make sure she makes its known. I don't always agree with her opinions but I respect her for standing by them and never bending for anyone.

Linda is a legendary British sitcom character and will forever go down as one of my favourites. And good news for all newbies - BBC have put all the episodes on YouTube!!